Reversed Reflection
by Snow Tigra
Summary: Black Butler Alternate Universe fic.  I wanted to explore wanted to play with a scenario where Ciel was the demon and Sebastian was the one he pursued.


Title: Reversed Reflection

Author: Snow Tigra

Fandom: Black Butler

Author's Note: So the idea was I wanted to play with a scenario where Ciel was the demon and Sebastian was the one he pursued.

I have missed you.

Matters were not helped by the fact that the building was new.

He was unfamiliar with the lay out and barely knew which hallway to take and which conference room to wind around to the correct staircase to his office, let alone how to find the door out of the building in the maze of cubicles before him. He could hear computers whining softly as they ran their nightly antivirus scans and somewhere he could hear a fax machine screeching out its mating call as another spam about some Caribbean vacation arrived and waited for the shredder. Above him the lights hummed, silently counting down the seconds before they could shut off from the lack of movement and bathe the office in the blissful ignorance of darkness.

Sebastian sat on the floor in one of the many cubicles, weighing out his options. He had maybe fifteen minutes before the lights snapped out and then the minute he moved they would snap back on, signaling his presence to whoever was watching. Rightly there shouldn't have been a soul in the building, but that thought was almost hilarious, as he knew there was something. Perhaps it was waiting for the darkness to slither between the cubicles, or perhaps it was waiting for the lights to come back and reveal the location of its prey. Sebastian didn't know and in this case, not knowing only made the situation that much worse.

... The jewelry store was small, huddled on the corner between a large general store and a beaten up laundry mat with boarded windows. The rain had chased him in and rather then following the crowd into the general store he'd stepped into the jewelry store, eager to avoid the people and the clutter. Instead he was pleased to see he could spend the ten minutes it would take for the rain to lighten browsing shelves full of antique finery and expensive heirlooms traded in for much less then their perceived value.

About a minute into browsing, a single ring caught his eye. It was large, obviously from a time period where gaudiness was a status symbol still holding some class. Perhaps it was a sapphire, or something equally expensive, resting in a rectangular setting, the gold polished to perfection against the velvet hand it was displayed upon. The small black hand was wearing it on a thumb, how strange...

A clock on the desk above him let out a soft beep, and on the floor below Sebastian could hear the air in the vents rushing with a dull roar. Perhaps if he moved while the lights were on, perhaps that would give him time to get out of the room and search for the exit. He felt ashamed of not knowing the doors in this new office, as he'd studied the maps well before the move. But on this night the doors had a habit of not leading to the correct halls and he was sure that whatever was following him was taking pleasure in twisting the building into this shape and that, locking him inside.

Realizing that he did not like the option of sitting in one spot until his hunter located him, Sebastian remained crouched as he walked along the edge of the cubicles to the supply room a couple feet away. Perhaps from there he would have a different vantage of the floor and more options would make themselves known.

I can hear you

The voice rang in his ear again, whispered so softly it felt like a breath again his cheek, yet so loud in the silence he sworn that thing was right next to him. Sebastian stood up in the supply room, turning around quickly, and just barely missed knocking a pile of papers to the floor. Pressing his hand against the smooth whiteness, he closed his eyes for a split second to force himself to relax. This was decidedly out of character for his normal well educated and calmed self, but the situation was just right to unnerve him to new lengths. He counted two slow and silent breathes before opening his eyes and reassessing the situation.

Still rows and rows of cubicles in front of him with no real end in sight. He could see the large windows far beyond, just over the top, but luckily his location didn't create a reflection. Still, for a second... was that someone walking? A small shape, almost short, flickering across the glass just out of sight. Sebastian frowned and made his way closer to the door. If he could make it to the hall, that would mean he was that much closer to the exit, and luckily there was a red exit sign he could see now, telling him where the stairs were. Sebastian counted two more breaths, then ignored the lights and ran for it as fast as he could with his head down and his feet silent. He could reach it, couldn't he?

... "It suits you, doesn't it?"

The young man behind the counter wasn't really remarkable. He had the expected welcoming smile and deep blue eyes you could only find on the young. He had to be in his late teens, just young enough for the long blue jacket he wore to not look girlish with his shorts and high boots. Sebastian nodded more for politeness and even tried the ring on for a moment when he offered, but then turned it down and decided to look around the shop some more. The rain was dying down outside.

Once it had almost stopped, he glanced back at the counter to wish the boy a good day, but he had already disappeared in back; the small curtain rippling against the wall. Sebastian thought nothing of it and left the store, not even noticing the slight addition of weight in his coat pocket...

Exit door upon him, he hit the lever and quickly passed through, the sound of the metal door opening shattering the silence. There was no helping it now, so he quickly grabbed the door and slammed it shut behind him, leaning against it to catch his breath. Now was this the northern most stairwell that had roof access, or the southern which came out in the parking garage?

And were those steps he heard from the room he'd just come from?

I can see you.

Sebastian looked up and looked down, then decided on down and moved quickly down the stairs. The roof would give him no where to go, but at least if he reached the bottom floor, he might find another door outside. Or at least, that would be the logical answer. Still, logic would dictate that he wouldn't have been terrified at the ring appearing on his desk when he came back from the bathroom, and logic certainly wouldn't have sent him rushing into the next room so he could get himself lost behind a locking door. And logic never allowed for creepy looking children with dark blood red eyes to be standing in the mirror of an otherwise unoccupied bathroom.

... Meeting number three of the day was over, only running two minutes late, and he was taking a breather before meeting number four was supposed to start- and it was not even noon yet. His mind was spinning with sales information and graphs projecting future sales. Sebastian took a moment to splash a small amount of cold water on his face before steeling up for the next meeting.

Next to his reflection, in the back of the room, standing next to the door, there was someone else in the bathroom. Sebastian raised an eyebrow in question to the shorter boy. It wasn't often that people used this bathroom as it was out of the way behind the cafeteria. But this boy, who certainly wasn't old enough to be working at the company, was standing there, quietly watching him. Sebastian turned to say something to the boy, the deep blue eyes looking familiar-  
>But when he turned the boy was gone and he was alone in the bathroom again. How strange, had he just seen something?<p>

And yet, in front of him next to the sink, was the same blue ring he'd seen a couple days earlier. Just sitting there as it if had always been, glinting slightly in the florescent light...

Sebastian's feet slid to a stop on the concrete floor and he grasped the railing to compensate for the sudden shift in weight. He was growing careless. If he ran down the stairs much faster, then he would certainly injure himself. Better to take a moment to stop and reassess. After all, he hadn't heard the door above him open, so he was alone on the stairs, wasn't he?

Sebastian leaned his head over the railing and looked up through the small opening. Somewhere, high up in the floors, he could see the light, but there was nothing else to say anyone was following him. Sebastian nodded to himself and walked to the door labeled 'Floor 1'. He pressed open the door and lights flooded on from the motion-

He blinked when he found himself standing in a bathroom of all places. What odd modern floor design would ever attach a bathroom to a stairwell? He knew for a fact there was no such connection anywhere in the building, he had studied the floor plan at least that well. So perhaps it wasn't a failing of his panicked mind after all. Perhaps whatever this thing was, was twisting the building into a pretzel so that the doors realigned. If that were the case, then it was very possible he wasn't even on the first floor, but in a bathroom in the middle of a maze that would make no sense no matter how much of the floor plan was memorized. This certainly changed the situation.

Sebastian needed to calm down and he needed to think. As much as he didn't like the idea and didn't want to repeat the event from before he needed to think, and he knew his little after meeting ritual would do the best. Stepping up to the sink he splashed his face with a little cold water and took two deep breaths, waiting for his mind to stop racing. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't surprised to find the boy was in the bathroom with him again, this time standing in the full length mirror with a little playful smirk on his face.

Running was no longer worth it, it seemed.

"I did not steal your ring. As strange as it seems, I believe it followed me." Sebastian reached in his pocket and wasn't surprised to find the ring there, even if he'd left it tucked in his desk when he'd found it earlier that day. Pulling it out he held it out to the boy. "I do not wish to keep it."

The boy nodded very slightly and took a step forward in the mirror. A second step, and the mirror rippled as if it were standing water. Sebastian watched as the strange boy stepped through the mirror to land on the floor in front of him. In the bright florescent of the bathroom he noticed a slight hint of crimson in the boy's eyes, clashing with the deep blue. He couldn't remember if that had been there before.

The boy stopped a couple feet away and extended his hand. But it wasn't palm up to take the ring, instead it was palm down, as if he were waiting for something.

"Sebastian."

Sebastian shivered as he heard his name spoken and he felt the ring in his hand grow heavy and almost warm.

"I have found you."

His feet moved of their own accord and while he thought he should protest, the thought never reached the surface. Instead Sebastian stepped forward and found himself bowing on one knee, as if he were addressing royalty. Not meeting the boy's eyes, he lifted the ring and slid it on the boy's finger, where he knew it belonged. The movement made his body feel light and at the same time extremely heavy. As the seconds passed with the action, the feelings were increasingly harder to describe in his mind and it was almost as if something shut off in his brain. He no longer cared.

The boy nodded to him and looked at the ring for a moment, admiring it, then turned and walked to the mirror. Glancing over his shoulder he looked directly at Sebastian. "Come."

Sebastian stood up and bowed his head. "Yes my lord," then he stepped forward, following him into the mirror as if he had been doing it all his life. After all, hadn't he?

Author's note: I have also altered this story and created a non-fanfiction version, which you can find on my Yahoo Contributor page under the title Crimson Sapphire


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